4 Money Lessons Learned from COVID-19

The corona virus pandemic has forced hundreds of thousands of small businesses to close. Since the mid-March onset of COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of American workers have lost their jobs and more are expected to come. It is estimated that this global slowdown has cost the world’s economy at least 1 trillion dollars already in 2020 and this is not including the human, mental and physical suffering.

Here are 4 Money Lessons learned in a COVID-19 climate:

1. Digital Mindset

Digitalization is officially now, the new normal!  Digitalization is the process of using technology, social media and more in our physical world to work, play and live. I must admit many in the world of public education, (though many of us use technology to some extent in the classroom), we are surprised to see online teaching or technology in the classroom become the norm almost overnight in the year 2020. 

When the corona virus hit in March, school districts throughout California asked most staff, including teachers to work from home for the next 2 weeks and then return to work. However, remote learning went from an initial 2 week period, to an extended period of 2 months. The 2 month period continued throughout the summer months and now includes the opening of the Fall 2020/2021 school year; with no definitive time given as to if or when we shall return to a traditional classroom.

Teaching via Google classroom, Zoom and using YouTube and other forms of social media data is becoming the mainstay of instruction and curricula; while still relying on the traditional textbooks, methods and state/district approved teaching materials and standards. 

The field of Education is not alone in this new environment of working from home. It’s becoming a seemingly normal and global practice. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google and more seem to say, employees can work from home indefinitely. If this is the new way of the world, working from home indefinitely may just provide the best opportunity to work on our next step. How can we working people use our talents and skill-set to make this digital age work for us financially?

2. Multiple Streams of Income

If you have been following me for any length of time, then you know I have always been a proponent of having multiple streams of income. COVID-19 has confirmed and narrowed the time frame of what we’ve been hearing in the workplace for years. Long gone, now officially gone, perhaps, are the days of “job security”:  30 years employment, pension plan, medical benefits, retire.  Corona virus is making it clear to us working people worldwide that having streams of income is mandatory; not optional.  

Regardless of our “generation”: millennials, Gen X, baby boomers, we must all think about having multiple sources of income as the new normal. I truly believe in this new world of work, it will be our own creativity and investments that will sustain us financially. 

We are witnessing the fall of what I thought were world renowned and stable businesses. COVID-19 has seemingly come out of nowhere and revealed just how vulnerable we all are, but yet equally resilient. We are still here! And I do believe we are about to see new technologies and innovations unlike anything we’ve seen before. Tap into your BENT (see previous blog for definition) and get busy. New millionaires are being and about to be made.

3. Plan B, C & D

Keeping in this same vein, seeing seemingly fiscally sound corporations and companies file for bankruptcy may have thrown us for a loop. There are some business entities whom we thought would never fail, let alone struggle to stay afloat.

I listen to business creators and leaders frequently and have often heard them say, companies, people who can read trends and shift on a dime are the ones that thrive in times of adversity. I have learned a couple lessons the hard way in my investments and thankfully I had the resources and Big Mama’s wisdom to see me through some challenging times.

Big Mama has always said you need to live in today, but have a plan B, C & D for the future…..

4. Maintain a Rainy Day Fund

I will close by going into more detail with Big Mama’s wisdom that can also be heard in a Marvin Gaye song. There are 3 things for sure:  taxes, death and trouble. This I know baby…

What COVID-19 has revealed to many of us is that we have to restructure our finances in such a way that enables us to live below our means and save for that proverbial rainy day,  4 to 5 rainy months. 

In my book Mind over Money, How to Live like a Millionaire on any Budget, I give you 40+ actionable items you can take right now to restructure your budget and be strategic with your current resources to increase and stretch the money you have in your pocket now.

In closing, I have learned the greatest lesson of all is deepening the connection and bond with my family and friends. “Shouts out” to my loved ones!